Vender Intercept Guidance
Note: Provided below is guidance intended for State departmental and program use only. To view more guidance and policy information, please visit the Central Accounting and Vendor Operations page.
Vendor Intercept Guidance
Process Description: Per C.R.S. Section 24-30-202.4, payments made to vendors with State of Colorado debt are subject to the intercept (also called vendor offset). The payment made to the vendor is partially or fully intercepted and applied to the vendor’s debt. If a payment issued by your department is intercepted, do NOT reissue the funds. If the vendor has questions regarding the amounts that were intercepted, they must contact the intercepting department – the State department handling that vendor’s State debt. Additional information and an FAQ can be found after the screenshots.
Once a payment document has been processed through the nightly cycle, intercepted amounts can be viewed in the payment document header and the AD or EFT document under the tab Additional Amounts.
- If additional details are required regarding the intercept activity, first determine who in your department has the security to view the intercept details. This security role should be limited to a few employees within each department. It is the D_U_IC_INCEPTED Security Role ID on the SEC-001 InfoAdvantage report. Employees with this security role will also be able to view the INTAQ table to view which department intercepted the vendor and the contact information for that department.
Enter INTAQ into the Global Search bar at the top of the page. The intercept Activity Query window has a variety of search criteria. Searching by name does not yield the best results. We recommend using TIN or check number.
Expand the Intercept Contact area to view contact information for the intercepting department. This information should be provided to the vendor for details regarding the debt.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Question: What notice has the vendor received?
Answer: Procurement documents and contracts generally include language informing vendors that if debt is owed to the state it can be intercepted. Intercepting departments provide vendors notices regarding their debt and the remedies that may be used per statute to collect the debt. In addition, vendors receive the following notice on the stub of an intercepted warrant or in the EFT remittance advice email.
Question: The vendor has threatened to discontinue service unless we pay. What action should I take?
Answer: Since the intercepted amount was applied to the vendor’s debt, the intercepted payment still satisfies the paying department’s obligation to the vendor under any existing contract or purchase order. The paying department will not pay late charges, amounts re-billed, and will take all discounts available under the contract.
Provide the Intercept Contact information from step 3 above. Questions about intercepted debt amounts should be directed to the Intercepting Contact located on the INTAQ table as earlier described.
You cannot stop a vendor from discontinuing service. Vendors may provide goods and services to multiple departments, and failure to meet their commitments to one department will affect their status at others.Question: The vendor re-billed the discount I took for timely payment because their payment was intercepted. What should I do?
Answer: Per CRS 24-30-202.4 (3.5), the State of Colorado is required to intercept payments for debt owed to the state. If a paying agency meets the terms and conditions required to take the discount, and a third party authority (e.g., court garnishment, IRS levy, state controller offset) withholds all or a portion of that payment due to debt owed to the state, the discount is valid and cannot be re-billed. Written agreements (e.g., state contracts, state purchase orders) contain a specific provision regarding vendor intercept. Explain this to the vendor and request a new invoice with the discount taken. Do not pay re-billed intercepted amounts.
Question: What if I need to cancel or reissue an intercepted payment?
Answer: The standard process still applies. You must provide a legitimate reason for cancelling or reissuing the payment as a part of your request. An intercepted payment should be cancelled only if it was issued in error or processed incorrectly (incorrect coding, address, etc). A payment will not be reissued solely because it was intercepted. The reissued payment will still re-intercept. Reissues should only be completed on a partial intercept (nonzero dollar payment) if the vendor lost or did not receive a warrant.
Question: The vendor told me they didn't owe the money that was offset. How do I handle this?
Answer: Refer the vendor to the intercepting agency. This can be found under the Intercept Contact area of the INTAQ table. Before a payment is intercepted, the vendor is provided written notice that their debt is subject to offset. The vendor may request a copy of this notice from the intercepting agency. These debts are fully documented and the agency will make the determination if a refund to the vendor is appropriate.
Question: What if my payments are exempt from vendor intercept?
Answer: Some vendor payments are clearly not intended by the law to be offset. For example per Colorado Revised Statutes 26-2-131 and 8-42-124, payments for Federal Food programs or Workers Compensation are exempted. If you feel your payee or payments should be exempt, please contact us at state_centralapproval@state.co.us with the legal or statutory guidance that allows the exemption. In CORE, these exemptions/exceptions are managed on the INTDBEX (Intercept Disbursement Exception) table. It is set up by Fiscal Year, Department, Object Code, and Appropriation Unit Fund Accounting codes. If this coding needs to change on payments that should be exempt, please first contact state_centralapproval@state.co.us to ensure payments are not intercepted in error.
